Dave,

Not all Southern Cross battle flags were square with white trim.

To begin, there were two types of SC flags in the ANV with orange trim before they switched to the white trim for the rest of the war. Overall, the ANV fought under 7 issues of this flag with 13 stars and 2 with only 12 stars.

Battle flags issued from the Charleston Depot, starting in April, 1863, were also square with white trim but had either red or blue hoist edges depending on the branch of service. Their stars were also laid out differently.

There were also two rectangular versions of SC flags issued to troops. The first came out starting in October, 1863 - the 12 star flags made in Mobile. These would be issued to the Mobile garrison, William Jackson's Cavalry Division, Leoniads Polk's Army of Mississippi and Forrest's Cavalry Corps.

The 13 star rectangular SC flags came from the Augusta Depot and were issued to the Army of Tennessee while at Dalton, GA in February/March, 1864. They would use these in the Atlanta Campaign through Bennet's Farm.

The 12 star Bragg pattern SC battle flags were made in New Orleans and came in both square and rectangular versions. These would first see service at Shiloh and with some units, continue into 1864.

There were also numerous home-made types of rectangular SC flags that were given to regiments as well during the war.

Lastly, the CSA had two naval jacks in the war. The first jack was taken from the canton of the First National flag and was blue with the number of stars based on how many states were out at the time. The second naval jack was taken from the canton of the Second National flag, which, of course, was the Southern Cross. Both were rectangular.

Please visit our CS flags website, Flags of the Confederacy, for more details. (www.confederateflags.org) It is the most accurate website on CS flags on the Internet and we did it because of all the bad ones out there!

Greg Biggs